Europe-exclusive Pokémon will appear at the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival

The largest lantern festival of the year will take place in Chiayi from March 2 to 11

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – It has been announced that rare and legendary Pokémon Mr. Mime, and different forms of Unown, will be loose at the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival. The chance to catch the rare Pokémon is expected to create another Pokémon Go craze in Chiayi of southern Taiwan.

Although the initial craze for Pokémon Go has waned after it reached an unprecedented level of popularity after its launch in 2016, the location-based augmented reality game developed by Niantic still has 65 million monthly active players, according to a Forbes report.

The Chiayi County Government recently announced a partnership between the local government and Pokémon Go developer Niantic in which two rare Pokémon will be available to be caught in Chiayi County during the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival, which the county is hosting.

The appearance of two rare Pokémon have been announced: Mr. Mime, who has previously only been encountered in Europe, along with Unown, one of the most elusive creatures in the Gen 2 update, with 26 forms that imitate letters of the Latin alphabet, and who tends to appear only during special events.

According to the announcement, Unown forms (or letters) that can be found during the event in Chiayi will include letters in the spelling of "CHIAYI Gong Xi Fa Cai. Gong Xi Fa Cai" (恭喜發財) is a Luanr New Year's greeting that means "to wish people prosperity and wealth in the coming year." According to the organizer, the two rare Pokémon will be easy to locate between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the event.

In addition to the first-time appearance of Mr. Mime outside Europe, and the special Unown forms, the chance to catch a shiny Magikarp in a golden color will also be increased during the event. Another Pokémon, Chinchou, will be easily found in the evening time during the festival.

Tony Wang (王景弘), CEO of Chiayi’s Office for Smart City & Youth Entrepreneur, and the man behind the partnership, said on his Facebook page that he proposed the partnership in last February and won support from Chiayi County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan. He thanks Niantic for their strong support to bring such rare Pokemon to the event.

Wang added that the local government has geared up to ensure a smooth internet connection at the event, in collaboration with all the telecom service providers.